Right angle mounting cabinet front unit



April 1952 H. "r. LAY

RIGHT ANGLE MOUNTING CABINET FRONT UNIT Filed June 13, 1949 WW5 T T m H .H

Patented Apr. 15, 1952 UNITED STATES RIGHT ANGLE MOUNTING CABINET FRONT UNIT Harvey T. Lay, Olympia, Wash., assignor to West ern Metalcraft, Inc.,;:(;)lympia, Wash., a. corporation of Washington Application June 13, 1949, Serial No. 98,750

1 Claim. (Cl. 189-46) 1 ct The present invention relates to cabinet struc tures and, more particularly, to combined sheet -m'etal frame and door units and to mounting means therefor.

Frequently it is desirable to enclose a relatively P755 narrow space between existing walls bymeans of a door assembly. Such spaces may occur between a pair of shelves, between another cabinet and an adiacent wall, or between the top of a cabinet and the ceiling or elsewhere. For err-( 1 ample, it is quite a common practice in the installation of kitchen cabinets to drop a false wall or soflit down from the ceiling to the top of a kitchen cabinet assembly because of the relatively high cost of manufacturing and fittingi ilfi frames and doors into the space between the ceiling "and the cabinet top. Storage space is usually at a premium within the average kitchen,

and it is undesirable from the viewpoint of the dwelling occupants to block off any space withinc3 a kitchen and waste the same behind false walls. The door and frame units of the present invention may readily be substituted for the sofiit at a minimum of expense with the desirable result that the space therebehind is made available forv storage purposes.

It is a generalobject of the present invention, therefore, to provide a combined sheet metal frame and door unit together with a relatively mounting brackets shown in Fig. 2; Fig.4 is ,a cross-sectional view illustrating the mode of attachment of the door and frame units to the mounting bracket; Fig. 5 is an enlargedfragmentary view illustrating certain details; and Fig. 6 is a front elevation of the door and frame unit shown in Fig. 2.

Referring .now to the drawings, the invention will be described with particular reference to a soffit arrangement, that is, an arrangement for enclosing the space between the top of a cabinet assembly indicated by the row of doors l0 and the ceiling H of a room, the top of the cabinet being indicated by the upper cabinet wall or, in this case, a shelf l2.

l A plurality of combined door and frame units M are shown mounted above the cabinet Ill, the units I 4 being supported upon the top of the cabinet shelf I2 by brackets 15. Generally the ceiling ll of the kitchen will be plastered so that i it is unsatisfactory to attempt to attach. the soffit door units I4 thereto, whereas it will be a relatively simple matter to mount the door units of the invention upon the shelf I2 in a manner disclosed. It will become apparent as the description proceeds, however, that the sofiit door units l4 may, if desired, be supported from the ceiling I I.

Referring now more particularly to the ensimple and inexpensivemounting means there- .3 ,larged perspective view of Fig. 2, a single sofiit for whereby the door and frame unit may be supported from any horizontal or vertical wall in a position extending at right angles with respect thereto. 1

A further object of the present invention is to provide a combined sheet metal frame and door unit together with right-angularly extending bracket means secured to the rear side of the frame for supporting the unit from a wall or shelf.

For a consideration of what is believed novel and inventive, attention is directed to the following description taken in connection with'the accompanying drawing while the features of novelty will be pointed outwith greater particularity 45.

portions 23 and 24,. the rearward edges of the -fl'ange portions being turned inwardly'toward each other as indicated. The outer surface of in the accompanying claim.

,2 In ,the drawing, Fig. 1 is a view in perspective illustrating a cabinet assembly in a corner. of a roiom1adjacent the'ceiling thereof and showing combined door and frame units together'with mounting means constructed in accordance with one form of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a view in perspective illustrating in greater detail one of the cabinet units shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3

door unit will be described. The unit as shown consists of a rectangular sheet metal frame and 40 corners and which portions are spot welded together at a plurality of points each so as to render 'theiframe rigid in the direction of the plane of the frame. Referring to the cross-sectional view of Fig.4, each of the frame members has a flat face portion 22 with rearwardly extending flange the inturned flange portions define a fiat, rear surface of the frame parallel with the front surface of the frame defined by the face portions 22.

The door [8, also preferably formed of sheet metal, is of double wall construction as shown in Fig. 4. The doors may be hingedly secured onto is a view in perspective illustrating one of the the frames by means of hinges 25 of any suitable 3 type though I prefer to use hinges which will permit outward swinging of the door through an angle of approximately 180 and which hinges and is of the corner mounting type, provided.

with two leaves, one of which leaves is projected through a slot in the corner of the door frame and is secured against the rearsurface thereof while the other leaf extends through a slot in the adjacent door corner and is secured in position thereto. The frame and door may also be provided with any convenient form of latching or catch device, one part being indicated as being mounted on the door frame at 26, the cooperating part being mounted in the rear surface of the door and indicated at21. A handle such as indicated at 28 in Fig. 1 may also be mounted on the front-surface of the door for facilitating opening and closing thereof.

The door andframe units of the present invention are preferably manufactured in a plurality ofvarious stock sizes and also for'both rightand left-hand opening. Since, as will be described, the doors are symmetrical on all four sides with respect-to the frame, the only difference between the rightand left-hand opening door is the location of the handle 28upon the face side thereof.

In the mounting of the door units l4, it is desirable that the frames of adjacent units abut closely against each other in a manner as illustrated at 30 in Fig. 5 and with no space provided therebetween. In order that the adjacent door edges of adjacently mounted units will not dra m,

against each other or. interfere with each other during opening and closing movements thereof. it is important that a clearance or space 3| be provided around the'edges of the door. Moreover, in an assembly as shown in Fig. 1, it is also essential that a clearance be provided between the lower edges of the doors of the units I4 and the upper edge of the cabinet units 10, as

well as between the upper edges of the doorsand the ceiling I I. The clearance between the-upper edges of the doors [8 and the'ce'iling H is indicated at 32 in Fig. 5. Such clearances are assured inthe eased the door and'frame unit of the disclosure by making the frame with slightly greater dimensions than the door l8 Such a door and frame unit in and of itself is .thesubject matter of my separate patent ap- 'plication filed concurrently herewith, Serial No.

- For mounting the door and frame units in po- .sition, I provide a pair of right-angular brackets I5 for each of the units, one of such brackets being shown in detail in Fig. 3. The bracket [5 may be formed of sheet metal and is provided with'a pair of right-angularly extending flanges 40 and 4|, which flanges are provided with pairs of suitably spaced holes 42. The vertical flanges 40 of the angle brackets l5 may be secured to the vertical portions'of the frame in any suitable manner, such as by screws or bolts 43, while the horizontal flanges 4| may be secured onto the upper surface of the shelf [2 by means of screws 44 as indicated in-Fig. 2.

Inthe event that the upper surface of the shelf I2 is not flat, suitable shims may be provided under either forward or rear portions of the brackets in order to mount the frame plumb and which is important in order that the upper edge of the door l8 will not scrape against the ceiling II when opened.

While I have showna particular form of a right-angle bracket, it is to be understood that any other suitable form of right angle bracket may be substituted for the type shown.

Having described the invention in what I consider tube a preferredembodiment thereof, it is desired that it be understood that the specific details shown are merely illustrative and that the invention maybe carried out by other means.

. I claim:

A cabinet front unit for mounting at right angles with respect to a supporting. wall, said unit consisting of a sheet metal frame and a door hingedly mounted thereon, said frame being of rectangular shape and consisting of top, bottom and opposite side members welded. together at the corners of said frame, each of said members having parallel spaced apart front and rearsurface defining portions, said door being of rectangular configuration overlying the front surface of said frame whereby saidframe is substantially concealedfrom view from the front side of said door when closed, said door being of slightly lesser width and height than said'frame whereby a slight clearanceis provided between adjacent outer edges of said door and-said frame around the four sides of said door, apair of brackets each having a pair of flanges extending at right angles with respect to the general plane of said brackets, the planes of said flanges further extendingat right angles with respect to each other, and means securing a pair of corresponding ones of said flanges to the rear surfacedefining portions of said frame on a pair of opposite sides of'said frame, and'with the other flanges of said brackets extending in a common planega'nd UNITED STATES 'PA'r nTs '1 r F Number Name Date 1,371,482 Hauserman et a1. Mar. 15 192 1 2,052,121 Venzie Aug. 25,1936

Clouse et al. J uly 5,.1'949 

